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6 Months Later, Here’s How The 70K Minimum Wage CEO Is Doing

Dan Price shocked the world with his game-changing wage announcement.

When Gravity Payments CEO Dan Price announced plans to raise the minimum wage for all his employees to $70,000 per year, it raised a lot of eyebrows in the business world. Many doubted the Seattle company's odds of survival while following through with this promise.

“My goal when making this decision was for other business leaders to recognize you can pay a living wage and not only survive, but thrive,” Price wrote on Gravity's blog back in July.

Six months out from the announcement, he's doing just what he set out to do. Market Watch reports that "profits have doubled. Customer retention is up, despite some who left because they disagreed with the decision or feared service would suffer."

In fact, in a lengthy profile on Price, Inc.com reports that positions at Gravity Payments are much sought-after -- even by people who took pay cuts to join their ranks -- as this policy makes a powerful statement about the life-changing power of a living wage.

While Price isn't living large these days -- he's taken out mortgages on two homes, sold stocks and emptied his retirement accounts to invest even more into the company -- he told Inc that it's really not all that bad to live like the rest of his employees do. "So how come I need 10 years of living expenses set aside and you don't?" he said. "That doesn't make any sense. Having to depend on modest pay is not a bad thing. It will help me stay focused."

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